According to www.wiki.answers.com, "WikiWikiWeb was the first site to be called a wiki. Ward Cunningham started developing WikiWikiWeb in 1994, and installed it on the Internet domain c2.com on March 25, 1995." Cunningham described wikis, according to Wikipedia, as “the simplest online database that could possibly work.” His website, the Wikiwikiweb was started as a place for programmers to share their knowledge about software development.
Wiki comes from the Hawaiian word, “Wiki-Wiki,” which means “quick.” Cunningham used the word wiki-wiki as a substitute for "quick", remembering a shuttle bus service he used in Honolulu with that name.
History of Wikis
Picture Source: http://www.hoax-slayer.com/images/social-networking-hoaxes.jpg
Picture Source: http://www.mischa-christen.ch/wiki/images/7/73/WikiBus.jpg
Reference:
Richardson, W. (2009). Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms (2nd ed., pp. 55-68.). California: Corwin Press.